Utica school district, counselors agree on summer pay

The Utica City School District and the Utica Teachers Association have come to an agreement in their dispute over the summer pay for guidance counselors.

DANIEL P. BADER

The Utica City School District and the Utica Teachers Association have come to an agreement in their dispute over the summer pay for guidance counselors.

The Board of Education passed a memorandum of understanding Tuesday night that compromises between the per diem rate the counselors have received in years past and the $26 per hour the district wanted to pay them this summer.

“We split the baby in half,” union President Larry Custodero said. “We compromised something to get through the year.”

Under the agreement, the counselors will now get paid half the days they work at the per diem rate, which is a percentage of a counselor’s individual salary, and half the days at the $26 rate.

Had counselors accepted the hourly rate, the district would have save $30,000.

The deal saved the district about $26,000, which board President Christopher Salatino said would be used to restore cuts to modified sports.

Board Vice President Louis LaPolla, who voted against the agreement, said he believed the district should have had administrators start the scheduling process.

“It seemed to me that we should have moved towards have the administration do it and see if the guidance counselors reacted,” LaPolla said. “I understand there’s a saving, there’s a savings because we’re not going totally per diem.”

Board President Christopher Salatino, who defended the $26 rate in the past, abstained from voting on the agreement.

Under former Superintendent James Willis, the district decided unilaterally to pay the counselors the same as teachers, a move the union filed a grievance over.

None of the 17 guidance counselors responded to the district’s two job posting, a problem because the summer work is the period when class schedules for students in the middle school and high school are written and double checked.

Those schedules are usually mailed out by the third week of August.

Custodero said the agreement would be for this summer only and not set a precedent for either side in future negotiations.

With more budget cuts expected from Albany next year, it’s likely that this issue will come up again next summer.

“We’ll get the counselors back to work tomorrow,” Custodero said Tuesday night.

He praised interim superintendent Bruce Karam for his willingness to talk out the matter, something he said that had been lacking under Willis’ administration.

In other matters, the board:

* Created eight one-year special education positions required by state mandates. The positions will be funded with a federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act grant.

* Awarded an asbestos abatement and tile replacement contract for $26,000 to Sullivan Contracting of Sauquoit.

* Approved $187,359 in change orders to other contracts for Albany and Conkling elementary schools and the District Wide Technology project. The changes range for items such as security lights for Conkling Elementary School, to waxing all the new flooring and final cleaning of the buildings prior to the school year.

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